Hunt for the Lioness
by Chicanery A. Beguile
Summary: Jim is kidnapped by Kat, Silver's first mate. They set a course for the Mediterranean and for revenge.
1. How it Happened

It happened not but this morning. I was sent to the market by my mother to fetch the next week's worth of groceries when I ran into him."Jimbo!! My, look how you've grown! What a fine man you've become. How long's it been since I've seen you? Four, five years? Ah, but who's keepin' track?" A man with one leg and a parrot on his shoulder said.  
"Silver, Long John Silver?" I said, taking a step back in surprise.  
"How ya been? How's yer mother?"  
"Uh... fine, we both are."

"That's good."  
Suddenly, we were talking like old friends who had been reunited after a long time of being separated. I completely forgot about the errand my mother had sent me on as Silver and I walked into the nearest pub. He ordered drinks for the both of us, and as we were sitting down, mentioned something that made me almost choke on the root beer he'd just bought me.  
"You know, I've been looking for another pair of experienced hands ever since one of my old crew members, um, quit, and was hoping you'd like ter take his place."  
After recovering from almost choking, I answered, "Sorry, I can't. My mother and I have the inn to run, and I'm attending school, and I just can't. I'm sorry." Another reason was that I still hadn't quite gotten over the last adventure I'd had at sea with him, but he didn't need to know that.  
Silver looked very disappointed and said rather sorely, "All right, I understand, but could you at least help me write an ad for the news paper?"  
I quickly obliged, knowing that Silver could neither read nor write. Soon, I had written quite a number of slightly different drafts for Silver all over one of the pub napkins. He thanked me and gave me a silver fourpenny before leaving, probably to go to the press to get his ad run.  
I made it home to the Admiral Benbow Inn just before twilight. Fortunately I had remembered the errand I was on and did not return empty handed.  
...

After I had put away all the groceries, a young, red-haired girl entered the inn. Her hair was pulled back with a green ribbon in a loose, messy braid down past her waist, and she wore a fine silk dress. She asked in fine-chosen English for someone who could read a letter that she had. The letter was addressed to her and said that she was to find an escort to Bristol, arrive there late that night, and meet her fiance in the morning. I offered to take her, and went out to the stable we had built several years back with some of my share of the treasure to hitch up the buggy. She stopped me though and said that she had her own horse and that I should just saddle up one for myself.  
Something was amiss about this girl, I thought to myself as I walked out to the stable, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.  
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck bristle as if something wasn't right. I turned around sharply but it was too late. I felt the prick of the dart as it went into my neck. I managed to stay standing for a couple more seconds as the red-haired girl advanced on me, holding a small blow gun and a few more darts. She was saying something but I couldn't understand her, the night was getting so dark, and everything was spinning and jumping around, I couldn't see.  
...

The night air rushed past me as if some storm had blown up and I was caught in the middle of it. No, wait, I was moving, instead, on a horse. I was gagged and tied to the horse sideways, watching the road and the landscape that was only lit up by the barely risen half moon rush past me.  
I looked in front of me, or to my left, and saw the horse from my stable and a rider. At first, I couldn't identify who the rider was, but then I recognized the loose, messy braid and knew it was the red-haired girl. She wasn't wearing the silk dress anymore; that was folded and tied neatly to the back of my saddle. Instead, she was wearing a dark red shift shirt covered by a black sea jerkin, and oversized black knickers. Sticking out of the top of one of her black knee-high boots was the handle of what must have been a knife. And sticking out of the back of the red shash she had tied around her waist was a pistol.  
She glanced down at me and saw that I was awake. "Captain Silver sent me," She half shouted over the clatter of the galloping horses in a curious accent that seemed to incorporate several languages, "Said you'd make a good mate." I stared up at her, but I'd told Silver no. She sighed, "What Silver wants, Silver gets, no matter what." She looked me over critically, "I don't know what he sees in you, though. You look like any other landlubber I've seen. But who cares? I get a promotion out of this." She shrugged and turned her attention back to riding. I pulled on my bonds, they were tight and digging into my skin. Without even looking at what I was doing, she laughed at me and said, "You can pull on those ropes all you want, but you'll only make them tighter. They're not gonna come undone." I stopped since they actually were getting tighter, and didn't try again.  
We rode through the entire night and arrived at the outskirts of Bristol when there was just a hint of dawn in the eastern sky. By then we had slowed the horses to a walk, and now we came to a complete stop. The red-haired girl, whose name I still did not know, dismounted and untied my horse's reins from her horse's saddle.  
Holding both horses' reins in one hand, she pulled a piece of folded paper out of her vest and held it up between the forefinger and the middle finger of her free hand.  
"Ya see this?" she said, waving the paper in front of my face, "It's a note that says you're joinin' us; so your mum won't come lookin' for you."  
She then unfolded it and held it so I could read it. I looked at it and, for a moment, thought I had written it. She tore it away from my face and stuffed it into her horse's saddlebag. "Pretty good forgery don't you think? Wrote it myself." I stared at her bewildered. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot. Remember all those advertisements Silver had you write yesterday?" She smiled at me shrewdly, "They helped so much."  
She turned and pointed her horse back in the direction of the Admiral Benbow Inn and gave it a hard smack. It took off and she said, "I hope your horse knows its way back home." She watched it race away for a little while before turning on her heels and marching at a brisk pace straight into town.  
We only stayed on the main street for a little while before turning off and winding our way through the network of side streets and alley ways. Not a soul was out as we walked steadily towards the piers, not even the drunkards who had all fallen into their stupors. We walked in silence the entire way, the only thing making noise was the horse's hooves on the cobblestone streets.  
Now I noticed details about this girl I had missed earlier. The girl was very tan and covered in freckles. She also had a bit of a swaggering walk, and was very lean. Her ears were double pierced; the inner pair, the ones closer to her neck, were small gold hoops with two beads and two feathers each. The beads were gold and purple, one above the other, and the feathers were a brilliant sky blue and aqua. The pair on the outside were larger hoops with a single large pearl on each. The top of her left ear was also pierced with a small, plain gold hoop, and the top of her right ear was notched as if it had once been pierced but the earring had been ripped out. Her right ring finger had a sturdy looking silver and turquoise ring.

We seemed to arrive at the piers in almost no time. We walked up to a sloop, probably no larger than 100 tons; she was simply named _Dagger_. The girl walked me and the horse straight onto the deck and tied the horse's reins to some low rigging. She untied the folded dress and took some other supplies off the horse and then went below deck to find Captain Silver, and the horse and I were left alone for a while. I decided to try my bonds again and found that they had become incredibly tight from riding the entire night, and my hands were completely numb.

I heard some quiet conversation coming up from below deck and saw Silver come on deck followed by the girl, who had strapped a pair of butterfly swords to her back, and dawned a black three-corner hat which covered a bright red crevatte. They both stopped talking and walked silently over to me and Silver looked at me then turned to the girl and said, "Nope, ya got the wrong person."  
She looked stunned and stumbled backwards then started stuttering, "But, but..."  
"I'm just kidding ya." He said quickly, seeing her strong reaction.  
She got slightly angry, punched Silver lightly in the arm and said, "Come on, I'm too tired fer jokes. He's Jim Hawkins right"  
"Yes, of course. Now then, quarters master," Sliver said addressing the girl who grinned at this, "Get Jim off that horse and below decks somewhere where he won't be of any trouble, and then get some sleep yerself. I'll get someone else to return the horse"  
"Aye, aye, Cap'n!"  
He went back below deck and she started untying my hands. I thought maybe while she was untying me I could escape, but as soon as she had my hands untied she pulled me off the horse head first, flipped me onto my back, and then rolled me over on my stomach, pinning my left arm under me and holding my right arm in a position that threatened to wrench my shoulder out of place. She untied my legs.  
"Don't even think of runnin' away." she said, hauling me to my feet and positioned herself between me and the only way off the ship.  
I rubbed my wrists and stretched. I was stiff and sore from riding all night tied up like that. She watched me warily and I studied her, trying to decide what my next plan of action would be. She had dark circles under her eyes clearly showing that she was exhausted and would probably be an easy opponent.  
"What're you lookin' at?" she asked, moving uncomfortably.  
"Nothing. Erm, what's your name anyway?" I asked, since she hadn't told me what it was yet.  
"Kat. Copper Kat. Kat's spelled with a 'K'." I wondered why she spelled her name with a "K" but decided not to ask.  
"Silver was right, you are tired." I said as she swayed a little.  
"Yeah, well, you try stayin' up half the night, an entire day, the entire next night, and into the next morning, and tell me how you feel!" She said sounding very irritated, then she added, "Ya know, you don't look too awake yerself."  
"Yes, but I'm more awake than you are, and I'm stronger too." I said in defense.  
She laughed. "If yer plannin' an escape, you've got another thing comin'. See, even though Silver said I'm not allowed to kill ya, I'm so tired right now that I just might forget about that and do it anyway."  
I stood there silently considering what she had just said.  
"All right, time's up, below deck with you."  
She moved so quickly I didn't realize what had happened until it was too late for me to do anything about it. She had me in another arm-wrenching hold and going down the stairs. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I could hear the sounds of heavy breathing and snoring. Almost the entire crew was still asleep. She directed me toward an empty hammock, and I felt the prick of another one of her darts go into my neck.  
"That should hold ya fer a few hours, or at least until we're out to sea." She let go of my arm and I fell into the hammock, and was unconscious a few moments later. 


	2. The First Day

I awoke in a cold sweat and tumbled to the floor. I looked around, disoriented, hoping that last night was just a dream and I'd find myself on the floor of my bedroom, but there was no such luck. I was still onboard the ship and below deck in the main room. All the hammocks were packed up and out of the way which meant I was alone. Suddenly my groggy mind realized what all this meant and a wave of nausea washed over me.I ran above deck to the railing and threw up. After that was over I slumped against the railing and rested a little still not feeling well.  
"Are you all right Sir?" A voice above and to the right of me said.  
I looked up to see a young boy probably not much older than ten with dirty blond hair and concerned blue eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He must be the cabin boy, I thought, no one else would've called me Sir. He reminded me a bit of when I was a cabin boy on the _Hispaniola_ and another wave of nausea washed over me.  
"I'm Timmy," he introduced himself, "and are you sure you're all right Sir"  
"Yes, I'm fine, and call me Jim, not Sir." I sad a little harshly.  
"Sorry, Sir, I mean Jim." he stammered.  
"Nah, don't be. You didn't do anything." He relaxed a little bit only to be shoved sideways by a crew member who had come up behind him.  
"Remember me?" I squinted up at him. He looked a little familiar.  
"Morgan?"  
"Yes. You marooned me on Treasure Island." Ah Treasure Island, that sure brought back some unpleasant memories. Ever since then I'd taken a disliking toward the sea.  
Something wasn't adding up though, "Weren't there three maroons?"  
"Yes, but unfortunately the other two died of fevers before Silver could rescue us. Why'd ya leave me there lad? Why?" He looked as if he was about ready to give me a sound beating.  
"Morgan, go vent your anger on something else like, oh say, your work." Kat said appearing behind him and grabbing hold of his shoulder.  
"Yes, but-" He tried to argue.  
"Piss off now Morgan!" Her tone dangerous.  
"Cap'n says ladies like you shouldn't curse." He taunted, starting to walk away.  
"Yeah? Well, I don't fucking give a damn, now piss off!" He sauntered back off to work grumbling. "Oh, hey, look who's up." Kat said, turning her attention to me and casually leaning back against the railing as if nothing had happened. "Sea sickness?" she asked.  
"Something like that."  
She looked disappointed, but quickly replaced her casualness "Bad dreams"  
It wasn? really a question. She seemed to know. I raised an eyebrow to this.  
"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm a light sleeper. You kept me up for hours and then woke me up early. I don't appreciate that." annoyance clearly showing in her voice.  
"Hey hey, what're you on break?" Sliver walked up, wanting to know why Kat was just standing around.  
"Sorry Cap'n. I-"  
Silver cut her off suddenly noticing me. "Oh Jim you're up. How ya doing"  
My stomach lurched, and I was doubled over the railing sick again. Silver was yet another reason why I hadn't set foot on a ship since that accursed Treasure Island venture.  
"Sea sickness." Kat explained to Silver, "I told you he'd be no good. All those years on land and he's gone soft."  
"Or maybe whatever was in that dart you used hasn't quite worn off yet." Silver said, defending me as much as himself.  
"Maybe, but unless someone woke him up it has." proving that she was not to be blamed.  
The Captain frowned, "All right. Give him a day or two to get his sea legs. You'll see." He left to go see to another group of crew members who had also decided it was break time.  
Kat was watching me curiously. "It's not sea sickness is it?" She paused to let me answer but I said nothing. "No, it couldn't possibly be sea sickness." she turned around and gazed out over the railing at the sea. "It's a beautiful day for sailing. The water's as smooth as glass, there's a nice strong breeze in the top sails, and there's not a cloud in the sky." She paused again and looked at me. I stared straight ahead, keeping my expression neutral. "Fine then. How 'bout something to eat? You look starved."  
My gut twisted into a knot and whatever was still in my stomach left just then.

Even though it was already past noon, it was only the beginning of a very long day.  
Silver had given me the entire day off to get my sea legs. So, I spent the it examining the ship, watching the crew work, and trying to stay out of everyone's way. Everyone except Silver seemed to dislike the fact that I wasn't working, but Kat was the only one who showed her contempt by irritating me at every opportunity she got. Before the day was out Kat managed to have me exasperated. Finally, I could stand it no longer. No matter how hard I tried to ignore her or get back at her it didn't work. I just walked right up to her and punched her, she wasn't a girl she was a demon.  
She dodged my punch all too easily and backpedalled out of reach. "Can I help you?" she said with just a hint of mocking in her voice.  
"Yeah, you can, by holding still so I can throttle you!" I said outraged.  
"Oh, now why would I do that?" she scoffed.  
I charged at her and she danced out of the way laughing. "Stand and fight like a man!" I bellowed before I could stop myself.  
"'Like a man' huh?" she jeered.  
"Yeah!" that seemed to have gotten to her, "You fight like a girl!"  
"Do I?" she said glancing around, "Well you'll soon find out that's quite a compliment"  
I glanced around as well not sure what Kat was looking for. The entire crew it seemed had stopped working to watch, then I caught Silver out of the corner of my eye. He nodded just ever so slightly as if giving someone the go ahead.  
Something connected hard with my neck followed moments later by something connecting much harder with with my chest and then my entire body was laid flat out on the deck.  
I stayed there gasping for breath. The side of my neck burned. I reached up to feel it and pulled back wincing. The sweat on my hands had gotten into four, long, bleeding scratches on the left side of my neck.  
I noticed Kat glaring down at me and scrambled to my feet. "Hey, that was uncalled-for!" I gripped.  
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, not sorry at all. "So, walking up to me while I'm working and punching me isn't?" I opened my mouth to protest but then she added, "Well, almost punch. You missed... twice."  
I walked right up to her, so that our faces were only a few inches apart. She stayed as still as a statue. I pulled myself up to my full height which wasn't more than a couple inches taller than her, not quite the effect I was going for, and said as threateningly as I could, "This time I won't miss." and I punch at her point blank, I couldn't miss, but I did.  
She had barely moved, just twisted her skinny self sideways and I had completely missed. Before I could recover and pull back my arm an explosion of pain shot through the entirety of my arm and then I was spinning, or was I falling. My head connected with something very hard and then I was sprawled out on the deck at Kat's feet.  
Kat had somehow grabbed hold of the arm I had just punched with, which was now tingling as if it had fallen asleep. She twisted my arm around so I was lying uncomfortably on my stomach with my face half smashed into the deck, and then sat on me making it difficult for me to breathe.  
Kat took a deep breath, "You know I could kill you right now. You're no more of a threat to me than a mouse is to a cat"  
"Then why don't you do it?" I challenged.  
"It wouldn't go over too well with the Captain, and it would defeat the purpose of me capturing you in the first place." she replied, and then added, "Plus, cats love to play with their food."  
I was about to say something but she got off me suddenly and I gulped air. As I was getting up I noticed my right arm was completely useless. The muscles didn't seem to work right and numbing pain shot up it every time I tried to move it. So, I had no choice but to let it hang limply at my side.  
Kat noticed this immediately, "Hmm... Looks like punching me doesn't work, maybe you should try a new tactic."  
I considered this for a moment. Should I try a different attack, or would she be expecting that? Or should I try punching with my good arm? Or would she be expecting that since she thought I might not take her advice?  
While I was arguing this over with myself Kat stood well out of range of any attack I could throw, watching me, looking very detached, as if she was just a spectator and not actually participating in the fight. This infuriated me more. She didn't even seem to be fighting back, yet my arm hadn't deadened its self.  
I decided Kat deserved a nice, sound roundhouse kick to somewhere in her upper body region. I measured the distance between us with my eyes. It looked like I would only have to take about three large steps to get within range. Planning to kick offensively, I put my left foot forward and then took the next two steps at lightening speed. Then I kicked, and missed. I had misjudged the distance. No, Kat had moved just out of range and I felt the trim on her jerkin catch just for a moment on the toe of my shoe.  
I watched her right arm shoot up and then her left to complete the capture, and then both twisted my foot around before I realized that this could be a problem. My upper body twisted completely around putting me on all fours with my right leg up in the air. Another explosion of pain in my captured leg and it went numb. My right arm gave out and I keeled over.  
Kat plopped herself down on top of me again. "Why don't you just give up? All you're doing is hurting yourself."  
"You would like that wouldn't you?" I didn't want to lose to a girl especially by just giving up.  
"Actually no, it's kinda not fun anymore when the mouse just stops fighting back, but for your own sake I suggest you stop." Now I was slightly confused. Could she give any straight answers? Kat hopped off me and stood an arm's length away. "Looks like the kicking didn't work too well for you." She had a point.  
I stood up but then had to sit down immediately feeling very ill. The three points where Kat had hit me: my arm, my head, and my leg were throbbing terrifically. Everything stared swimming in and out of focus. All of a sudden lying down seemed like a really good idea.


End file.
